La Colonia club gets $40K grant

SOLANA BEACH  More than 100 youths and teens will have free access to after-school programs at the La Colonia Branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Dieguito, thanks to a $40,000 grant from DPR Construction.

The grant was awarded through the San Diego construction company’s DPR Foundation, a nonprofit established in 2008 to help disadvantaged children reach their full potential.

Kids at the La Colonia club receive tutoring in math, English and science as well as access to summer camp programs.

Peter Nosler, co-founder of DPR Construction and president of the DPR Foundation board, said in a news release that the company strives to extend beyond its offices and customers and into the community.

“Through the foundation, we focus on building long-lasting relationships with local organizations that help kids gain an enriched community experience,” Nosler said in the release. “Once we select an organization, our commitment is solid and we expect to continue our financial and volunteer support year after year.”

This year, the foundation expanded its grant program to 15 organizations, up from 12 last year, and distributed $750,000 in grants with an additional $95,000 in discretionary funds that will be disbursed regionally for the coming year.

In addition to DPR’s financial contribution to the Boys & Girls Clubs, the deck and ramp in front of the new La Colonia clubhouse were provided and installed by DPR volunteers working on weekends and after work. About $3,600 in material and 80 hours of volunteer time were donated to this project.

In 2006, the club worked with the city of Solana Beach to open the La Colonia branch, which now serves more than 110 underprivileged and low-income Latino children, ages 5 to 17, each day. The youth are 100 percent scholarship funded and don’t pay for the services and activities provided for them.

The program helps suppress the ongoing, and recently escalating, drug and gang violence in the city’s Eden Gardens neighborhood.

DPR Foundation grant winners are selected annually by the DPR Foundation board and local DPR employees. Over the past five years, the foundation has awarded more than $2.4 million to 21 different organizations focused on providing community support to grade school and high school-age children, the news release said.